First Trail Ride

Location: Oak Openings Metropark
Distance: 5.83 miles
Avg. Speed: 9.0 mph
Max. Speed: 18.0 mph

This was a lot of fun. Brian and I went mountain biking this morning over at Oak Openings. I had a slew of bike trouble at the start (loose handlebars, locked disc brake, derailed chain), but once I got everything fixed I had no further difficulty.

My Jeep full-suspension bike took the bumps and terrain with no problem whatsoever, it was a very comfortable ride...I could definitely feel the suspension doing it's job. My new gel seat pad improved things greatly as well.

I was also very impressed with my new CamelBak water backpack. It made keeping hydrated very easy, and also gave me room to take my old 2.0 megapixel camera along with me. I bought the backpack because my bike design isn't conducive to mounting a water bottle on it.

I'm most happy with how well my body took this ride. I was worried that I would wear out after just a few miles, but I felt very good throughout the ride and never felt like calling it a day early. We only stopped twice, once to take pictures and again to allow three deer to cross the trail ahead of us. I think next time I could go a little farther without any problem.

Oak Openings is an extraordinarily beautiful park. There are many variations in terrain and types of trees and plants...a dream for any nature buff. I don't know enough about tree types and whatnot to really understand the significance, but nonetheless it is a great place to ride bikes or hike. Below are a few pictures I took:


Some huge pine trees along the trail


Our bikes at rest